The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the Federal Government of Nigeria are to collaborate on digitalising birth registration in the country.
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Ms Emelia Allan, a child protection manager with the UNICEF Kano field office disclosed this at a two-day capacity-building workshop organised for journalists from Katsina, Kano and Jigawa in Kano.
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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the capacity-building workshop was organised by Kano State's own Abubakar Rimi Television (ARTV).
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She said that birth registration is important in any country because the data is used for planning, adding that without effective registration, the planning will fail.
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ÔÇØArrangement on the planned exercise has gone far, with Kano State as the pilot state, saying that the success of Kano will determine how the exercise will go about nationwide.
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"We are doing our best on child rights protection, with government agreed on five key areas, including law and policies in line with international standards,
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"Also, increasing birth registration is among the key areas, the good news is that Kano is piloting the digital birth registration system we are supporting the government with.
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"We want to digitise birth registration, the manual registration is part of the processes that is making birth registration low.
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"The government wants to digitise the system, and Kano is piloting it in all the 44 local government areas in the state, so we are working towards that,ÔÇØ she said.
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Allan said once the birth registration is increased in Kano, it is like they increased it nationwide, adding that they are starting the exercise in October.
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The child's rights protection expert added that digital registration of the children will go directly to the system and a digital certificate will be printed, not like that of the manual system.
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Earlier, the UNICEF Chief, Kano field office, Mr Rahama Farah said the capacity building workshop was to enhance the capacity of journalists on reporting children and women issues.
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Represented by a UNICEF Communication Specialist, Mr Samuel Kaalu, Farah tasked journalists to focus more on issues affecting vulnerable children and women.
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According to him, reporting more on such issues will call the attention of the government, especially the politicians to implement more policies to ensure their welfare.
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He said that malnutrition and underage marriage are still rampant and many school-age children, especially girls still do not have access to education.
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ÔÇØ2023 is approaching, politicians and candidates campaigning to hold various positions, the media should get them to make a commitment on how they intend to tackle some of these issues if they get to the office.
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"The world should know the situation of children in Nigeria to the extent that if you marry off an under-age girl, she may never get the opportunity to go to school,ÔÇØ he said.
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In her welcome address, the Director-General of ARTV, Hajiya Sa'a Ibrahim commended UNICEF for creating avenues for journalists to build their capacity in the way they can deliver the best.
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Ibrahim was represented by a director in the station, Alhaji Yusha'u Hamza.
